Six Years of Dust
by irisrin
Summary: Falling in love is surprisingly easy, even when the world around you is chaos. Year One. Autumn. Current Pairings: SasuTen. ShikaIno. AU. Rated Mature.


**_a/n:_ **Guys, I'm back! For the longest time, I haven't been able to log into this account, and so I had another account. This is the story I posted on there but I've decided to abandon that account now that I'm back on here!

I never thought I'd be writing a zombie apocalypse story (and truthfully, the thought scares me half to death) and I know how cliche and cheezy and unoriginal and just plain bad some of these stories are so I hope I create something that stands out. The plot will be fast-paced and filled with romance but sprinkled with all the sorts of things you'd expect from an apocalypse story.

For those of you who are turned off by this sort of sci-fi/zombie story, I am one of you but I ask that you give the story a chance. Gory details and gruesome scenes are kept to a bare minimum. The story mainly focuses on relationships.

Anyway, more on the story in the Author's Note at the bottom.

Enjoy!

~iris

* * *

**SIX YEARS OF_  
_****_DUST_**

* * *

_PROLOGUE_

_"the world dies over and over again, but the skeleton always gets up and walks."_

* * *

"Do you want to stargaze with me tonight?" Tenten shouldered her telescope and picked up her folded lawn chair as she looked beseechingly at her younger brother. As much as she loved gazing at the heavens by herself, philosophically contemplating the sheer extent of the universe and the millions of light-years of space that remained undiscovered, she enjoyed having a companion at times, if not to try and induce them with her love of astronomy, then to have someone she could boss around and help her record data, which she couldn't usually do herself as she was horrible at multitasking. And tonight – she had been keeping up with the astronomical news – she knew that there was supposed to be a fantastic meteor shower and she really wanted someone to record all that data.

"No way," retorted Tetsuo as he furiously pressed the buttons on his game controller. "Daisuke's mom gave him his XBOX back only for today and we have to make every second count."Tenten watched disapprovingly as Tetsuo fired at the slow-moving figures. "Die, you zombie scum!"

Tenten muttered darkly to herself as she left her brother, unable to fathom why some people found violence as a source of entertainment. But, Tetsuo was a boy, a teenage boy, and she decided that killing zombies was better than making out with girls. He was too young, anyway; he was only thirteen and she hadn't had her first kiss until she was sixteen.

As she wandered into the kitchen, wondering if it was too late to phone Ino and ask her to stargaze with her (she really wanted that data), her mother stepped in front of her, blocking her from the back door.

"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" Her mother raised one eyebrow challengingly.

Tenten swallowed. Had she forgotten to complete some chore? She glanced down at the fish tank that sat in the corner of their living room. Tenten racked her brain; yes, she had remembered to feed the fish as soon as she got home from school. She looked up at her mother. Why did she look so angry?

"I'm going to stargaze," Tenten explained, slightly ruffled. It was Friday. Friday was her stargazing night. Her mother knew that. Her mother was even responsible for fostering in her daughter such a deep love for the sky and space, what with all those trips to the museums and the planetariums when she was young. Tetsuo had complained even before he could talk, but Tenten had always been fascinated. Recognizing this, her mother bought her her first telescope when she was seven and continued to fund her daughter's hobby well into her senior year of high school.

"It's ten o'clock!" her mother exclaimed, gesturing to the clock on the wall.

Tenten pouted, extremely put out that there was a chance that her evening plans would be spoiled. "There's going to be a meteor shower tonight, Mom," she said very slowly, trying not to reveal how angry she was. "I was hoping to get some pictures of it, too."

"It's still ten o'clock," insisted her mother adamantly.

"Tetsuo's still on his XBOX," Tenten pointed out childishly. There was no way she'd back down this time.

Her mother pursed her lips. "I don't know, Tenten. I have a bad feeling about this."

"Mom, it'll be fine. I'll be done in about half an hour, okay?"

Without waiting for permission, Tenten sidestepped her mother and floated out the back door to the middle of the backyard, where she set up her complex telescope and unfolded her lawn chair. She settled back into the chair and just stared at the sky for a while, occasionally looking down at her watch.

Outside, the air was crisp and the sky clear and Tenten gazed up at the constellations as she picked them out easily – _Orion, Ursa Major, Cygnus_ – as they twinkled softly down at her. How right everything seemed to be in the world. She forgot momentarily that she and her boyfriend had recently broken up; she forgot that she'd be leaving home for college in a few short months; she forgot about all the horrible things that did, could, and would happen. For now, it was just her and the stars and she couldn't ask for anything more.

Around 10:18, the first meteor shot through the sky, quickly followed by three more. Tenten scrambled to position her telescope and ready her camera, so shaky her hands were from excitement, and, after a moment of fumbling, she sat back to admire nature's beauty. The meteors streaked across the sky – whites, pale pinks, sharp yellows – and Tenten heard the crackling and hissing as some ventured too close to the atmosphere and were consequently destroyed. She took comfort in the fact, however, that the meteor had simply turned to dust that would float to the ground and be yet another glorious tie from the world below to the world above.

Twenty minutes later, when the meteor shower seemed to peak fantastically quickly and the number of meteors decreased significantly, Tenten decided to call it a day and began packing her telescope. She had luckily gotten a few spectacular photos that she planned on uploading to her astronomy blog the next day. She knew that the meteor shower had been surprisingly short, lasting for mere minutes, an aberration in usual shower behavior, but she also knew that there was a lot about the universe that people didn't know and that deviations were only deviations because the "normal" that astronomers had set was based on what they knew, not what was true.

Yet, had Tenten been a more seasoned astronomy enthusiast, she would have realized that the length of the meteor shower was suspicious enough to garner the attention of the world's leading astrophysicist, who had never before in her life witnessed such a striking and singular phenomenon. She would have also realized that her mother had had good reason to be worried.

* * *

_Saturday, March 17__th_

_9:23:12 AM_

_Hello, fellow Astro-geeks!_

_I hope all of you caught yesterday's surprisingly short meteor shower but just in case you didn't or wanted to relive the spectacular moment, I have uploaded some of the pictures I took! I apologize for some of the amateur photography faux pas – angle, clarity, damn nighttime mode – as I was just too enraptured by the beauty of it all. Fingers crossed that the shower continues tonight!_

_Happy gazing!_

_Tenten_

* * *

Fugaku was just sitting down to a nice, home-cooked breakfast made by his loving wife when his walkie-talkie crackled. "_Chief Uchiha, we have a disturbance by the Konoha train station. Over._"

His wife, Mikoto, frowned as he replied. "My shift doesn't start until ten. Over."

"_Well, I thought justice never took a break. Over."_

"Damn it, Yashiro. I'm on my way." Fugaku drank the entire glass of orange juice in one swig and stuffed an untoasted bagel into his mouth as he headed towards the foyer, tucking his gun into its appropriate compartment and stopping to receive a kiss on the cheek _good-bye_ from Mikoto.

"You better be home in time to take Sasuke to his soccer game," she reminded him lightly.

"I took an extra shift tonight. We're short-staffed. Make Itachi take him," Fugaku suggested when his wife opened her mouth to chew him out. "Sasuke doesn't like us to stick around and watch anyway."

With that, he was out the door and into his cruiser, where he took a moment to take a deep breath and relax. Konoha's crime rate had been on a steady rise this past year and in early June, his usual chief duties had been eclipsed by the need for more patrolling, more law keeping, and more order. He was positively perplexed by it all – the crime rate had plunged the years before last – but his more socially aware coworkers told him that the end-of-the-world hysteria had gripped many people. _We're going to die soon anyway_, was their twisted reasoning. _Who cares if I steal something or kill someone?_

That in mind, Fugaku turned on the sirens and sped down the highway to the Konoha train station, the largest transportation hub in the suburbs of the city after only the airport. As he approached the station, he noticed the crowd of people that gathered around the less-crowded side of the station, viewing something nauseating by the looks on many of their faces. A few seconds later, there was a great shriek and the crowd dispersed.

As he peered through the throngs of disgusted people, Fugaku reached for his walkie-talkie. "Yashiro, I'm going to need some back-up. Over."

"_Tekka and Shishui are nearby. I'll send them. Over_."

Feeling slightly apprehensive, Fugaku kept one hand on the trigger of his gun as he approached the few people who remained to revel in the scene before them, their eyes wide, many stealing glances from behind their fingers, some still shrieking with terror.

And though Fugaku was jaded from decades of experience, he too felt an uncontrollable urge to join in their horror.

* * *

Hinata Hyuuga was prone to overreacting due to her hyperactive imagination. As a child, her fantasies ranged from her stuffed animals coming to life and inviting her to a tea party on the clouds to various murders and kidnappers sneaking into her bedroom at night to whisk her away. Her parents had feared the worst – schizophrenia, hallucinations, lunacy – but her doctor had assured them that there was nothing wrong with her and that her imagination would likely become less potent as the years dragged on. She had learned quickly after that doctor's visit to keep whatever was inside her head from spilling out of her mouth, lest her parents think her a lunatic again, and had instead retreated into a shell, preferring to observe and to muse rather than to interact.

As she walked down the hallways of the hospital, her father to her right, her cousin Neji to her left (Hanabi had been left at home for fear of giving her nightmares.), she wondered if possessing powerful imaginations was a trait that all the Hyuugas had but one few of them were willing to show. Now, as a young adult, she guessed that her parents were less afraid of her being different, and more afraid of her being the same.

She wondered – as she did a lot lately, ever since Haru had been diagnosed with a strange virus after mauling an innocent passerby – what the two men were thinking as they walked down the white hallway. She knew what _she_ was thinking (_what virus does Haru have is there a cure will he ever be the same will it spread_) and guessed that that their trains of thought had something to do with Haru. He was all anyone seemed to want to talk about.

Haru was a distant relative of hers who lived alone – mother's grandmother's nephew's cousin's son, or something like that – but they still shared the same Hyuuga blood and Hinata wondered if she and he also shared a rare but potent craziness. She also wondered if she would one day snap and eat off another human being's nose.

It was strange, this feeling of unruffled rumination, in light of the events of the past few days. Most everyone else was falling off their rockers upon hearing news of Haru, the more depressing ones contributing his behavior to an impending zombie apocalypse, but here Hinata was, wondering and pensive, as she was seconds away from seeing a relative who had nearly gone cannibalistic. It was probably just the sheer impossibility about which the so-called prophets preached that made her so calm. There was no zombie apocalypse. This definite truth among the myriad of perhaps's and maybe's assured her that Haru simply had an illness, and not the potential to sow the seeds of human annihilation.

The intern they had been following – a girl about Hinata's age whose hair was an unsightly pink – stopped outside a set of large doors, on which were the words QUARANTINE. The intern coughed uncomfortably as Hiashi's eyebrows rose. "We moved Haru-sama," she explained.

"But to a quarantine?" snapped Neji before Hiashi could answer. His eyes narrowed dangerously. He hadn't been close to Haru but the man had been a good man from what Neji gathered from his own experiences with Haru at family gatherings and the perceptions of the clear-minded adults. "He isn't contagious, is he?"

The intern cleared her throat again, glancing around conspicuously for backup from her superiors, but when she found none, she sighed and motioned for them to follow her into the quarantine. Tsunade was waiting to speak with them anyway.

Hinata was the last to go through the quarantine doors, to no one's surprise but her own. She interpreted the intern's silence as affirmation and her rampant imagination began ticking. If Haru was contagious, if he had to be quarantined for the safety of others, did that mean whatever he had, whatever demon had gripped his soul and forced him to commit that terrible act, was a true threat to humanity? Her previous serenity left her feeling scared and out of control.

_What's happening?_

* * *

_KONOHA TIMES. JULY 2__ND__ ISSUE_

_MYSTERIOUS VIRUS CLAIMS TWO MORE VICTIMS_

_Following the horrifying discovery that Haru Hyuuga, 46, the man who allegedly attacked an innocent passerby and proceeded to consume his flesh, was infected by an unknown virus, two more Konoha civilians have begun to show signs that they too are infected by the virus._

_The virus, dubbed AZ-1095 by researchers, is believed to be highly contagious, spread mainly through the exchange of bodily fluids, such as saliva and blood. Though scientists are still unsure about the virus's origins, they warn the public that symptoms of the virus may take weeks to surface and suggest taking extreme hygienic precautions to avoid any further spreading._

_Dr. Tsunade Senju, one of the leading researchers and current doctor to Haru Hyuuga, states that "there could be people out there with the virus already inside them but they don't know it yet. It is absolutely necessary for anyone who experiences any of the symptoms of the virus – a loss of appetite, an increase in aggressiveness, and lapses in memory – to see a licensed practitioner as a precaution."_

"_We are working on a cure," promises her colleague, Dr. Shizune Kato, "but we urge the public to not take this lightly. Virus AZ-1095 spreads quickly and can live inside us for weeks and even months before showing itself. And though we have no confirmation, we are certain that the virus rewires the brain."_

_Researchers have determined that only human beings are affected by the virus but that it may be transmitted through contact with other animals._

_UPDATED: JULY 5__TH_

_Six more people have been diagnosed with virus AZ-1095 within Konoha and its suburbs._

* * *

"This makes no damn sense," growled Shikamaru Nara as he pounded his fist on his desk. His glasses slipped down to his nose and he repositioned them angrily. Glasses were troublesome but he didn't exactly jump at the idea of poking at his own eyes with contacts.

From his bed, Naruto Uzumaki flipped through that month's issue of PLAYBOY magazine and whistled when he found a particularly wanton-looking girl with hair so dark it was almost purple. Shikamaru, upon realizing that his friend was paying absolutely no attention to what he was saying, took it upon himself to snatch the magazine out of Naruto's hand and slam-dunk it into the trashcan.

"Jackass," Naruto muttered as his hands closed around thin air.

"You can get a boner anytime," Shikamaru retorted, "but _listen to me_. This virus – there's something the researchers and scientists and government aren't telling us!"

Naruto cocked his head, intrigued.

"_Listen to me_," Shikamaru repeated even though his friend was already listening intently. "The article in the _Konoha Times _last week mentioned that Haru Hyuuga was currently under the care of Dr. Senju, right? That was July 2nd but a week before that, on June 26th, there was another article on their website – it was a really small one but it was there nonetheless – that said that Haru Hyuuga _had died_. Now, how can he be dead but still under a doctor's care?"

Naruto scratched his head thoughtfully. "Maybe it was his body?"

"That's what I thought so too so I went back onto their website to read the article from last week but someone had taken it down. And then when I tried to Google his name and this whole virus AZ-1095 fiasco, I couldn't. I literally could not search for any information. There was a warning about 'restricted access' and everything. Now," Here, Shikamaru leaned back in his chair in a very superior way, "doesn't that seem strange to you?"

"It's a public safety thing." Naruto shrugged, unimpressed. "No big deal."

"Naruto, I know you're not big on using your brain, but something's not right. I have a bad feeling about this."

* * *

_WARNING: The information you are attempting to retrieve is currently under restricted access by the Office of National Security. Anyone who attempts to retrieve any more withheld information will be prosecuted in accordance to the Public Safety Law, Section 5a, Subsection 22._

* * *

"Will you calm down, woman?" Kakashi Hatake paced around his laboratory, his nose deep into the scientific findings of his colleagues back in Konoha instead of his usual pornographic literature. As much as he enjoyed being able to read freely after deciding to leave Konoha to do researching out here in Suna, he missed the irked faces of his coworkers as he strutted around the lab, brandishing his beloved book and an obvious little friend shamelessly. It was one of the few things that made him truly happy in the world.

And he was certainly in desperate need of some happiness, as were most of the people in the world. Just as he and his colleagues in Suna had identified the mutated amino acid sequence in the DNA of virus AZ-1095 that caused the change in disposition, Shizune had called him in a blind panic. So far, he succeeded in deciphering zero of her words, as the woman was positively hysterical.

"Calm down," he repeated, this time a little less jokingly and a little more firmly. From his years spent in Tsunade's lab, Shizune had always been a levelheaded woman who didn't hesitate to poke fun at Tsunade's dramatic antics. Her emotional breakdown underscored the gravity of the situation and, for the first time in his life, Kakashi felt his stomach drop. "Tell me what's going on. Slowly."

"It's Tsunade-san," Shizune fretted, her voice dropping to a barely audible whisper. "She swears she's fine but, Kakashi, she _has the symptoms_. I tried talking to her about it but she wouldn't hear it. I'm worried, Kakashi. I'm worried she'll go to sleep and won't wake up the same. She is the most brilliant scientist and if she has the virus too…" She paused, unable to imagine it. "The virus is bad. You know that and so do I. I didn't believe in an apocalypse before but now, I don't know. I just have no idea, Kakashi. I'm scared."

As Shizune talked, Kakashi already decided what he was going to do and when there was a pause in Shizune's ramble, he stopped packing his things long enough to promise her one thing.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

* * *

"_The President of the Fire Country has officially declared a state of emergency and has advised everyone to stay in their homes with the doors locked and windows bolted for the time being. Anyone found wandering the streets will be escorted to the nearest hospital for their own safety. Everyone is advised to keep an eye out for the first stage of the virus, the coma, by waking themselves and others up every three hours to ensure that none are infected. If someone is infected, please transport them to the nearest hospital for treatment. If you are unable to reach the hospital, please contact your local police or fire station for help. Citizens are advised to stay away from strangers and avoid giving and receiving help. Signs that a person is in the second stage of the virus include—"_

"Tenten, turn that off." Her father burst into the living room, looking positively furious, but Tenten knew that the news program was vital to their survival.

"I can't. This is important," she protested but she suddenly felt very small as her father sent her an imperious look. She couldn't blame him for having such a short temper lately. They had been stuck in their house for the past two weeks, ever since a few stage-two victims had broken out of the quarantine and had since populated the streets with soulless zombies (She hated the word so much she had once sworn to never use it. So much for that.), and the late-July heat was completely unbearable.

"Start packing," her father ordered as if she hadn't spoken at all.

"Packing?" she echoed faintly.

"We're leaving."

"Leaving?" Where had her tongue gone?

"It's dangerous here. This is no way to live," spat out her father. "I've talked to your mother and we've agreed to stay with her aunt in Oto for a while. It's safer there."

"It isn't," argued Tenten, getting over her initial shock and finding her voice once again. "Haven't you been watching the news? This virus, this plague, is _everywhere_. There's no escaping it, Dad. It's no safer in Oto than it is here." She frowned, wondering if sheer dread prevented her parents from thinking clearly. They were fools if they thought it was possible to run away from all this.

"My word is final, Tenten. You're not eighteen yet, which means you're still under my authority. Pack now. We're leaving in ten minutes." The look on his face stopped her from opening her mouth again.

"I'll be eighteen in like a week," Tenten muttered under her breath. As she hauled herself off of the couch, she was struck by a sudden thought. "Hey, did you even buy the plane tickets?" When no answer came, she sighed and locked herself in her room.

Tenten spend the first three of her ten minutes simply staring at her empty suitcase, at a complete loss for thoughts, and only at the sound of her mother's anxious rapping on her door did she jump into action. What could she pack? She had a habit of over-packing – _just in case_ – but no matter what she threw into her suitcase, she felt that it wasn't enough. _How_, she wondered, _do you pack for a situation like this_? She was leaving her home, her dangerous, zombie-ridden home, for an indefinite amount of time during an official state of emergency. She doubted over-packing was possible in this situation. In the end, she managed to fit various articles of clothing into the suitcase and some food, water, and money in a small backpack.

Rushed by her parents, Tenten was only able to leave Ino a short voicemail – "Hey, my parents decided we're going to Oto for a while. Stay safe. I'll call you whenever I can." – before they were packed in the car and speeding down the highway, Tetsuo making a fuss that they had left their fish behind. They made it to the airport in good time – Tenten assumed that everyone else was a little more practical about their options for survival – and they unlocked the car door without making sure that no zombies were about.

Inside the airport was chaos. There were frightened people everywhere, shouting across the room at their companions, sitting on the floor, praying that they would make it to a safer place. Her mother led Tenten and Tetsuo into a crowded corner as her father set off to find a manager he could bully into giving them last-minute plane tickets. Tetsuo was occupied with some silly game on his mother's iPhone and Tenten resorted herself to contemplation.

She had known things were taking a turn for the worse when she had been taking her evening run around the town and had seen several stumbling figures in the distance. Apprehensive, she had sprinted home as quickly as she could and told her parents in short breaths what she had seen. Already fearful after the events of the last few months, her parents had reported the incident to the police and later learned that the figures had, indeed, been the infected and that the some more unlucky citizens had been infected as well. Very soon, it became difficult to walk down any street without glimpsing two or more of the infected stumbling around blindly, looking for someone to eat. She and her family had bolted themselves in their house but other families suffered from their boldness. The number of infected multiplied and the new branch of the police department – created only to deal with the extermination of the infected and headed by a Fugaku Uchiha – had its hands full trying to round up every one of the infected.

Tenten sighed and looked over to where her father was coming over, pushing through a large crowd of people but triumphantly waving four tickets in the air.

Something didn't look right.

Her eyes widened in horror as the figure behind her father opened its mouth, its boring eyes devoid of any life, and bit down on her father's shoulder. There was no time to react, no time to scream and warn him. The infected moved incredibly fast when there was a meal to be had.

At once, the chaos in the airport multiplied as more and more of the figures appeared out of seemingly nowhere. "Who let them in? Where the hell is the security?" she heard one person demanding. Hordes of people were now pushing against each other, forgetting their luggage and thinking only about escaping. Instinctively, Tenten grabbed onto her brother's wrist – thank god Tetsuo hadn't seen what she had seen – and when she moved to grab her mother's, she was gone.

Her heart pounding, Tenten tried to peer over the tops of fleeing people's head but saw only terror from the well and hunger from the infected. Somewhere, amid the screams, she swore she could hear a woman sobbing her father's name and her heart quickened. Tenten shouted for her mother but could barely hear anything over the hysterical shouting. Where was her mother? If she was anywhere near her father, she was near the infected as well. Tenten had already written off her father but she refused to cry now because she had to get her and her brother to safety.

"Tetsuo, come on," Tenten muttered, grabbing her own backpack and stuffing it with whatever she could grab from her suitcase, urging her brother to do the same. When some careless fleer kicked her own suitcase halfway across the room, in the way of other stampeding people, she helped her Tetsuo stuff his backpack.

When they were done, she noticed that her mother's purse was still on the bench and she debated whether she should take it or not. The crowd had thinned slightly as over half of the people in the airport had evacuated but she still saw no signs of her mother. With grim resignation, Tenten grabbed the purse and her brother's hand and pushed past the people to get to the exit, knowing that if she didn't take the purse, someone else would.

Outside in the parking lot, people were considerably more relaxed now that they were inside their cars, away from the infected. The virus had not mutated enough to allow its hosts to retain some amount of intelligence and the people took comfort in that.

"Tenten, Tenten, what's going on? Where are Mom and Dad?" Tetsuo asked as he clutched her hand. Tenten didn't answer as she was too busy trying to figure out how they were going to escape. Their car was gone – Tenten wanted to believe that her parents had made it out safely but she knew if they had, they would have waited for their children – and every other car that swerved onto the highway was one less means of escape.

"Shut up, Tetsuo. I'm trying to think."

Tenten paced back and forth on the concrete, constantly on the lookout should any of the infected stumble their way out of the airport. How had they gotten in? There had been police cars and security guards by every entrance. She looked at the farthest entrance. There was a bloody heap that she could only assume was what remained of the guard.

"Tenten!"

Pulled out of her trance, she looked up in time to catch the face of the nearest infected, which had snuck up on her and her brother. As her heart pounded in her chest and as she telepathically apologized to her brother for being unable to save him too, three gunshots rang through the air and moments later, the infected fell, its legs completely amputated.

Before she could register what was going on, she and her brother were pulled into a police car, which then began speeding down the highway. Stunned, Tenten made sure her brother was unhurt before turning her attention to their savior.

From what she could see of him through the rearview mirror, the officer was middle-aged and hardy, years of experience etched into every line on his face. When he caught her looking at him – she didn't bother to look away when their eyes met – he cleared his throat and addressed her. "Where are your parents?"

"Dead," she answered flatly, ignoring Tetsuo's whimpering.

"Recently?"

Tenten nodded but some part of her wanted to believe that her parents were still alive, that her mother had miraculously dragged her father to the hospital and had him treated and that they were waiting for them at home.

"Do you have anywhere to stay?"

She thought of their home, safe and familiar and she nodded once more. A part of her didn't want to return for fear of being alone and without her parents but another part of her hoped shamelessly that her parents would return one of these days. "Please take us back to our house."

"Is it safe? You're welcome to stay with my family for the time being, if you're scared of being alone," he added quickly. "My wife, Mikoto, and I wouldn't mind helping you two out."

Tetsuo opened his mouth – probably to take his offer; _yes please we need all the help we can get _– but Tenten quieted him with her hand. There was no way she would stay away from the house because if her parents ever returned, their children would be waiting for them dutifully. "No thank you, sir. We can take care of ourselves."

The rest of the car ride passed in silence and Tenten mumbled her thanks, a poor show of gratitude towards the man who saved her and her brother's lives, as the officer reminded them to _stay safe_. She knew he was waiting until they were behind locked doors before speeding away and so she walked slowly and carefully, relishing this fleeting sense of security.

The house was quiet and dark but Tenten didn't bother to turn on any of the lights. After making sure all the windows and doors were bolted and shut, she collapsed onto the family room floor, taking her younger brother in her arms and holding him close. He began sobbing against her shoulder, saying not a word, and she quietly cried with him.

And thus, the first year began.

* * *

_**a/n:**_I never thought I'd be writing a zombieapocalypse story but I was just inspired one day. This story, I realize in hindsight, is kind of based on all that 'zombie hysteria' following that one act of cannibalism in Miami (I think/too lazy to check the facts.).

Well, this story is going to be a romance/survival/horror/adventure/tragedy story and, of course, there are pairings. Because the end of human civilization is chaotic, so the pairings too shall be. I'll basically be pimping everyone out but I plan on having the story end with NejiTen, NaruHina, SasuSaku, ShikaIno, and every other canon pairing because I like them.

Also, because I haven't outlined the whole story yet, I'm still unsure of how many years this story is going to cover. Therefore, the title of the story may change depending on what I outline, but it will be a minimum of three years.

Please forgive me if my information about stargazing and astronomy and zombies and researching is a little faulty. I did quite a bit of research for this story but I know some information will still be wrong so I apologize if that irks you.

Now, this story is just going to be something I do in my spare time so please don't expect regular updates. I will update whenever I can, I promise.

Also, the quote at the top is by Henry Miller.

Once again, I want to apologize for being gone for so long, but I've had plenty of time to plan out more stories and chapters, most namely the last chapter of WINGSWELACK. I want to thank all of my readers, old and new, and I hope you guys enjoy this new story!

Please **_review_**and let me know what you think of the story!

~iris


End file.
